Freaking Great
by jbr12476
Summary: Sara is having a bad day
1. Chapter 1

AUTHOR: Jennifer Ransdell

Summery: G/S Sara is having a bad day

Disclaimer: I own nothing with CSI but I do love me some Grissom & Sara

Feedback: This is my first fic, so be gentle!

Sara thought to herself Oh this is just freaking great

It all started at the beginning of shift. Grissom had sent her out solo, again, and not only did she have to deal with a decomp, but it started to rain almost as soon as she took the first picture, all but washing away every bit of evidence. She could swear that the black clouds were following her. Once she got back to CSI, soaking wet, she realized that not only did she not have a spare change of clothes but Nick had used the last of her stash of lemons. Then Grissom got pissy with her when she asked to go home and change.

"Sara, I can't have my CSI's going home in the middle of shift," He said tensely.

Sara tried to keep her cool, "Grissom I didn't do this on purpose, it's not like I asked the heavens to open up and deliver a rainstorm. I wasn't out in the middle of the desert doing a rain dance. I was out there

working."

"Yeah, what good that did," he shot back.

"Maybe if someone hadn't sent me out on my own, I might have been able to collect more evidence before the floodgates opened," She shot back.

"Well if you can't handle it..."

"That's it!" Sara yelled as she slammed her hands down on the break room table. "This CSI is going home to shower and change clothes. I'll be back in 45 minutes. You can time me if you want."

Grissom saw the frustration written on her face and the helplessness in her eyes and his tone softened," Sara..."

"I know," She cut him off, "The lab need me." She said over her shoulder as she stomped out of the break room and headed to her car. Once there she proceeded to beat on her steering wheel. "I swear one of these days I'm gonna strangle him. Doesn't he know I could do it and get away with it!"

Sara got home, took a shower, and changed clothes. As she was getting ready to walk out she noticed the pile of mail sitting on her counter. She hadn't had a chance to go through it yet. She picked it up and that's when she noticed an envelope from her bank. She opened it and uttered a curse under her breath. It was notice telling her that there had been a problem with her account and she had until today to get it squared away. "Looks like I get to spend my day at the bank," she said as she locked her door and headed back to the lab.

As she was walking past the break room she saw Grissom sitting in there by himself. She took this opportunity to watch him for a moment. Ever since she had asked him out to dinner he had been ignoring her. Putting her with anybody but him. She knew she wasn't going to be able to handle that much longer without some kind of confrontation. Okay, she got it, he wasn't interested, she misinterpreted everything that had ever, or in this case never, happened. How much longer was he going to punish her? She was

trying to fall out of love with him but something made her heart keep holding on. Taking a deep breath she stuck her head around the corner, "43 minutes and 29 seconds."

He looked up but she was already gone. Grissom let out a sigh, he couldn't keep doing this to her. It wasn't her fault. He was punishing her for being the brave one. Shouldn't they be the ones that are rewarded? And what does she get for her courage? Nothing, nada, zip. He knew he was going to have to fix this before their relationship deteriorated past the point of no return. Grissom knew this but still he kept holding back. Maybe I'll pair her up with me next shift. Yeah right he thought, can't put forth any effort can you Gil.

Sara managed to avoid Grissom the whole rest of shift. She made it to the bank about 10:00 and was surprised that it wasn't that busy. Maybe my days looking up she thought. She had to stand in line for what seemed like forever and by the time she got up to a teller named Stacy her nerves were beyond frayed. She was arguing with the teller when 3 men stormed into the bank with ski masks and weapons. And that's what had brought her to her current musings.

_Oh this is just freaking great_

TBC


	2. Chapter2

Chapter 2

The teller that Sara had been arguing with earlier looked like she was about to faint.

Sara told her," Miss, just stay calm and do what they say and nobody will get hurt and it will be over with quickly."

The teller either wasn't paying attention or didn't care what Sara had to say. She immediately pressed the silent alarm. This caught the attention of one of the men.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?! Get out from behind that counter. And you," he pointed the gun at Sara, "Shut up!" He threw the bag at the other teller. "I want you to put all the money you got behind there in this bag, NOW! Everybody do what we say and you'll live to see another day."

The other two men were standing as lookouts. One was at the door watching the outside and the other was watching the customers. Sara put her hands up in a show of compliance and went to stand with the other hostages. _If nobody panics, I might be able to go home and get some sleep before shift starts and I have to come back here to process this scene. Hmm, weird, I've never had to process my own crime scene before. I wonder if I'll be as compassionate with myself as I am with other victims. You know wouldn't want to get too involved with a case right Grissom?_ As Sara was thinking this, all hell broke loose.

The man standing guard by the door yelled, "Johnny, we got cops coming from all direction! Shit man!"

"Mark, go outside and fire at them and let them know we ain't playing and we mean business."

As the one known as Mark went outside, Sara heard the distinct sound of automatic weapon fire mixed in with the sound of LVPD issued pistols. _Oh that's not good,_ she thought.

"Okay, who the hell tried to be a hero here, huh? I think it was you," Johnny said as he pointed his weapon at the teller Sara had been arguing with.

She opened her mouth to say something but never got the chance as the bullets struck her chest and silenced whatever she was going to say. All the other hostages hit the floor, some screaming, others crying, all scared out of their minds.

Sara sat on her knees on the hard floor of the bank. Her mind was still trying to process what had just happened. She was used to seeing dead bodies after the fact, but seeing the life seep out of another human being was something entirely different. It was surreal and it made her blood run cold.

Just then Mark came running back into the bank, "That was awesome! They didn't know what hit them!"

Sara thought it funny that this Mark person was still walking let alone breathing and making coherent statement. Stupid statements but statements none the less. All the firepower that she heard coming from outside should have brought him down. That's when she realized that these guys knew exactly what they were doing. And they were also covered in body armor.

_Oh this is just freaking great_

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

I'm new to this so the first 2 chapters didn't come up right, so I'm trying to fix the next chapters.

Thanks for being patient with me.

Chapter 3

Sara was trying to shake off the fear in her head and take in her surroundings. She had to get her head back in the game.

Rule #1: Follow the evidence. Okay, so what evidence did she have? Three heavily armed masked men. All between 5'11 and 6'4. No way to tell how much they weighed due to all the body armor. No way to tell what they looked like due to the masks. One was named Johnny, one named Mark, and one who we'll just call Mr. Talkative for now, since he hadn't said a word.

Rule #2: The evidence never lies. Money was the obvious motive and they were going to get it no matter what. They weren't going to let anything, or anyone, get in there way. Stacy the teller was proof of that. If things kept up like this no one was going to come out of this alive. Screw Rule #2, back to Rule #1. No more Rule #2. All right Sara, listen to what they're saying and try to gather clues. Johnny and Mark were behind the counter talking to each other.

"So what now Johnny? How are we gonna get out of here? What's the plan?"

"First, we're gonna wait for them to contact us. We'll give them our demands, maybe exchange a few hostages for some necessities, then its hello Mexico."

"That's our plan? What if it doesn't work, huh? Then what?"

"It'll work, the way I see it, unless they want a bank full of dead hostages, they'll play. Especially when we show them her." Johnny said as he motioned to the dead teller. "We're probably going to each have to take a hostage to shield us once we leave this place and our demands our met. Then we'll dump them."

Mark motioned to Sara, "I'll take that one, she's nice."

"You take whichever one you want but remember no fun and games until we're home free. You got it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it."

"For now, we sit tight and let the cops come to us."

Sara caught enough of the conversation to raise the hairs on her arms. She wasn't getting out of here anytime soon she realized. And it seemed like Mark had taken a particular liking to one Sara Sidle. Crap. Sara thought God must be playing a joke on her with the men in her life. First, Hank, loser with a capital L, Grissom, who couldn't express a feeling if his life depended on it, and Mark, bank robber extraordinaire. Woo hoo, you go Sidle, you sure do know how to attract the wrong kind of man. You really ought to write a book, "The right thing to do to attract Mr. Wrong." It just screams best seller.

Outside, the LVPD mobile command unit was pulling up. Captain Jim Brass was barking orders left and right. Not only was it his day off, now he had this to deal with. Hostage negotiations with bank robbers never ended up good. And this one had started off with a bang.

"What's SWAT's ETA?" Brass asked as he walked into the command unit.

"10 minutes," answered one of the officers.

"You better make it 5, we don't want these guys anymore trigger happy than they already are. How's it going on breaking into the banks security system?"

"Give me just a few more minutes and we should be able to see everything going on inside." One of the tech operators answered.

"Do we have a secure line established yet?"

"It will be up in 2 minutes." The same tech answered.

"Let me know when it's ready." Brass said as he walked out of the van. He was getting ready to tell on of the officers to let him know when SWAT arrived when he turned to the parking lot of the bank to see it full of news vans and reporters. Damn it. Just what I need, not only will the Sheriff be watching my every move but so will all of Las Vegas. Nothing like a little pressure.

The tech stuck his head out of the van and said, "We've got the line established sir. You ready to contact them?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Brass answered as he walked back into the van.

Inside the bank the phone began to ring. "Show time, Mark. Hello."

"Yes, this is Captain Jim Brass with the Las Vegas Police Department. Who am I speaking to?"

"How bout we not get too personal Captain Brass. I'll tell you what I want and you deliver it, got it?"

"I'll do what I can. First, can you tell me if anyone inside is injured?"

"Not good enough Captain, tell you what, why don't I show you just how serious we are and then you can call me back." With that Johnny hung up. "Hey you two," he pointed to two male hostages inside the bank, "Pick her up and throw her outside the doors." The men hesitated. Sara knew it was from fear. From fear of the men with the guns or from fear of touching a dead body she wasn't sure. Johnny stuck his weapon in the air and shot off a few rounds. "I said throw her outside NOW!" Ya'll come back now, you hear." Johnny added with a small laugh at his own joke.

With that the two men grabbed the teller, one at her feet and one by her arms. Mr. Talkative opened the door of the bank and let the men out. They hurriedly dropped the body and ran back inside.

Captain Jim Brass knew that his day had gone from bad to worse. SWAT had already pulled up and gotten settled while he was on the phone. He saw the doors of the bank open. Two men came out holding the obviously dead body of a woman. Shit. Brass called the bank again.

"What do you want?" He asked trying to mask the anger with indifference.

"Right now, we're kinda hungry, so food would be nice. We want some hamburgers and French fries. And some cokes."

"Is that all?"

"For right now, don't worry captain, I'm gonna give you 15 minutes to get us our food."

"It's not your food I'm worried about. Can you give me an idea of what your more pressing demands might be?"

"Come on now captain, I don't like to do business on an empty stomach. You got 14 minutes now."

Brass heard the dial tone at the other end. He jumped out of the van. "Vega, run down to the nearest fast food joint and get me some hamburgers, some fries and some cokes, and hurry, you've got 13 minutes."

Vega was back in no time flat. Brass still had 6 minutes to spare. "This had better be the best damn hamburgers this side of Vegas, Vega." Brass handed the bags to a SWAT officer and ran back into the van. He called the bank, "I just wanted to let you know that an officer is going to be putting your food outside the door of the bank. I didn't want to spook you."

"I appreciate that captain. I'll send one of the hostages out to pick up the food. If I'm impressed with it I might just send someone out to you."

"That would be good..." Brass said as he heard the dial tone, again.

Inside, Johnny stood there trying to decide who to send out to pick up the food. His gaze settled on Sara. "You," he said, "Come here."

Sara stood up and slowly made her way to where he was standing.

"I want you to go outside that door and pick up our food. Do not try anything funny or try to run away or I'll be forced to kill one of them" He said while pointing to the rest of the hostages.

"Wouldn't dream of doing anything stupid," Sara replied.

"Good, now go ahead and remember, I'll be behind you with this," he motioned to the weapon," pointed at the back of your head."

Sara walked slowly to the door. She opened it and was immediately struck with how bright the sun was in her eyes. She hesitated for just a minute to get her eyes adjusted. That was when her eyes locked with Brass.

Brass felt all the blood drain from his face.

Oh this is just freaking great.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The first thing Sara thought after locking eyes with Brass was, _Hmm, Jim doesn't look too good_. His face was entirely too pale and she thought his eyes might bug out of his head. She also never thought a mouth could drop as far as his did. She thought that he kind of looked like a Pez dispenser. Interesting. Sara shook her head to clear her thoughts and gave Brass a small smile to let him know she was unhurt and okay. She saw out of the corner of her eye all the news media. She decided she needed to let Brass in on what the situation was inside. As she moved to where the food was she stealthily moved her right hand to show the number 3. She then moved her hand to show the number 5 and flashed it twice plus a 2. She hoped he would understand. 3 of them to 12 of us. She bent down to pick up the food and signed something to Brass before she picked it up. She knew that Brass wouldn't catch it but someone else would. Then she backed back into the bank.

_Oh.My.God_. That was Brass' first thought upon seeing none other than Sara Sidle coming out the front door of the bank. What in the hell was she doing there? How? Why? Too many questions and not enough answers. But damn, she was good, he'd give her that. She silently let me know how many robbers and how many hostages. After the initial shock of seeing Sara had worn off, Brass walked back into the van.

"Get that video feed working, Now!" he shouted.

Detective Vega, who had been standing outside, followed Brass into the van. He was visibly shaken. "Captain, did you...I mean...was that...oh god."

"My sentiments exactly." Brass responded.

"How did Sara get caught up in this mess? I mean do they know who she is? Could this have something to do with a case she's working on? Or was she just in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"I'm going to guess the latter. They would have already used her as a pawn if they knew what she did. They would know that she would be the key to get whatever they wanted, but all they had her do was pick up the food. I think she's safe." _For now_ Brass thought, but kept that to himself. The SWAT commander was now entering the van holding a set of blueprints.

"Sir, we wanted to go over the layout of the bank with you."

"Give me one minute, I've got a phone call to make." And it was one Brass was dreading making.

CSI LAB

Gil Grissom was still at the lab. He was waiting for the results on some DNA testing that Greg had been running for him on a case that came in early that morning. He had yet to go home and he thought he might be coming down with a migraine. He knew what the cause of it was. Sara. It wasn't anything that she had done, it was more of what he had done to her. If he could go home and get some sleep maybe his mind would stop thinking and he'd be able to come up with some conclusion to whatever _"this"_ was. Just as he thought this he heard footsteps running in the hall. He looked up in time to see Greg and Hodges running to the break room.

"Hey," he yelled, "Where's the fire?"

They completely ignored him as they stood outside of the break room. The investigator in Grissom got the best of him and he went to see what all the fuss was about. It looked to him as if no one was working and everyone was gathered around the TV. He looked over Greg's shoulder to see what was going on.

"This is Jorja Fox with KTV-12 and we are on the scene of a hostage situation. Details are scarce but from what we can determine a bank robbery was being committed when the police were notified and got here just in time to be welcomed with a barrage of bullets by one of the suspects."

Grissom saw as the camera panned to Jim Brass. This must be serious for the Sheriff to call in Brass on his day off Grissom thought.

"Wait a minute, I see movement coming from the front of the bank. Hold on back at the studio, John, can you get a closer shot so we can see what's going on. It looks like a SWAT officer has placed a bag near the door. Okay, now we've got the door opening and wait...it looks like someone is coming out. Yes, there's a woman coming out of the bank. She must be one of the hostages. It looks like the suspects have sent her out to retrieve the bag. Yes, now she's picking it up and she's backing back into the bank. We'll stay here until the resolution of this and continue to update you at home as to this very dangerous situation. Back to you Brian."

Everyone in the break room stood still. Grissom thought his eyes were playing tricks on him or maybe he was dreaming. _But_, he thought, _there's no way I'd have Greg or for that matter Hodges in my dreams. Nightmares, maybe, but not dreams._ Then again, as far as Grissom was concerned this was a nightmare. Once Grissom's mind comprehended that this was real his emotions hit him full force. He had to grab hold of the door jamb to keep from falling down. _My God. Sara. What? How?_ He thought maybe his heart had stopped beating. Just then Grissom heard his cell phone ringing, without even looking at the caller ID he answered, "Grissom."

"Gil, its Jim. I've got something I need to tell you and I promise you're not gonna like it."

"I know Jim, I just saw it on Channel 12. What...Sara......how...Jim..." Grissom stuttered.

"I don't know all the details yet Gil but she's in there. She did good."

"What do you mean she did good?"

"When she came out of the bank she signaled to us that there were 3 suspects and 12 hostages." Grissom heard Jim but his mind was back to the television. They were reshowing Sara coming out of the bank and that's when Grissom saw it.

"Jim, that's not the only thing she showed us. She signed something before she picked up the food and went back into the bank."

"What did she say?"

"Aim for the head."

Brass sighed, "Oh just freaking great."

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Grissom tore his eyes away from the news report. "Look, Jim, I'm on my way. I should be there..."

Brass cut him off, "No."

"No?"

"I said no Gil. I don't need you down here. The best thing you can do is stay at CSI and I'll call you when we have any information."

Grissom scoffed at Brass' so called suggestion," If you think for one second that I'm gonna sit here and twiddle my thumbs while Sara's in danger, then you've got another thing coming."

"Gil..."

"No Jim. I'm on my way. I've already wasted too much time." _If Brass only knew how true that statement was._. Brass was getting ready to say something when Grissom hung up on him.

The next call he placed was to Catherine. It rang once." I know Gil, I'm waiting for my sister to get here to watch Lindsey."

"Thank you Catherine."

"How...how is she?" she asked with fear tinged in her voice.

"I don't know but I'm going down there to find out."

"I'll be there shortly. Gil..."Catherine paused, "Are you okay?"

"No...no I'm not." Grissom hung up the phone and then called Nick. It rang six times. "Hello." came a tired voice.

"Nick, I need you to come back to the lab"

"Oh man, I just got to sleep." Nick semi-whined.

"Nick, turn on your TV to Channel 12." Grissom could hear Nick fumbling around for the remote and then he heard the noise from the TV.

Nick gasped into the phone, "I'm on my way." And hung up before anything else could be said. As Grissom was getting ready to call Warrick, he appeared in front of his office door.

"So when are we leaving?" he asked.

"We?" Grissom asked as he shut his phone and grabbed his keys.

"Yes, we. You're not going to the scene alone."

"Warrick, really, I think..."

Warrick held up a hand to stop him. "Griss, whether you realize it or not, Sara's apart of this team. That means we're all concerned about her." _Some more than others_ he thought to himself. "And as a team we look out for each other. WE are going so you can look after Sara and I can look after you."

"Warrick..." he tried again.

"Griss, we've all wondered what exactly it is you feel for Sara. I don't have to wonder anymore. The look on you face says it all"

"That transparent, huh?"

Warrick nodded. "Now let's go. By the way," Warrick said as he snatched the keys out of Grissoms hands, "I'm driving. Gotta make sure you get there in one piece. Sara would have my ass if I let something happen to you."

Grissom smiled at the mention of Sara's name and both men headed out to Grissoms Tahoe.

Outside the bank Brass was watching the video monitor. The tech had just gotten it up and Brass was watching intently. He saw Sara walk in and place the bag on the counter. Then he saw one of the suspects push her back to where the other hostages were. _Thank god Grissom wasn't here to see that_. _If that little shove made my blood boil, I can imagine what Grissom would have done. I'm gonna have to handcuff him to something as soon as he walks in._ He could faintly hear what was being said inside the bank. "Everybody shut the hell up!"

Inside the bank Sara had just gotten through putting the food on the counter before she was shoved back to the others. She had to bite her tongue not to smart off and say you're welcome.

"Hey, Johnny, is there a TV in this place?" Mark asked.

"Why?"

"I don't know, I was just going to see what they were saying about us."

"Good idea. Hey you, "Johnny shouted pointing to the bank manager, "You got a TV in this place?"

"Yes, in the break room." he said his voice shaking.

"Mark, take this nice gentleman here and have him show you where it's at and bring it back in here. Hey Moose. You want some of this food?"

_Moose. Fit him,_ Sara thought. Out of all of them he was the biggest of the 3. Sara watched him as he walked over to the food and realized just how big he really was. He was so quiet earlier that she had almost forgotten he was there. I bet no one picked on him in high school. Sara thought of some other nicknames for Moose. Tree trunk. Bear. Semi-Truck. She only hoped it was true what they said. The bigger they are the harder they fall.

Mark came back with the bank manager and had him set up the TV.

"We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming with some breaking news. There is a hostage situation in downtown Las Vegas. Let's go to our reporter out in the field, Jorja Fox."

Brass was still watching what was going on inside when he heard it. "If you don't let us into that goddamn van, I swear that not only will I have your badge but I will shove it so far...."

"Gil'" Brass said more calmly than he felt," It's okay officer, you can let CSI's Grissom and Brown pass." The officer nodded his head and stepped aside.

If Warrick thought Grissom was a meek man, then that display certainly proved him wrong. There was no doubt in his mind that Grissom meant every word he said.

"All right, Jim, what we got?" Grissom said as soon as he entered the van.

"Not much right now, our guys are getting ready to eat and they just asked the manager to bring out a TV."

"Where's Sara?" Grissom asked, immediately looking for her on the monitor. Brass didn't need to point her out. Grissom found her.

"So how's this gonna go down? Are we going to let SWAT go in, guns blazing? We gonna talk them down to see if they'll give themselves up. What are we going to do?"

Brass raised his voice just a notch," First thing WE are gonna do is calm down and be quiet to see if we can hear what they're saying. They don't realize yet they're being watched. Second thing WE are gonna do is wait until they've finished eating before trying to contact them again." Jim saw the look of horror on Grissoms face and continued, "They told us they would talk to me after they had eaten.

That somewhat satisfied Grissom. He was getting ready to say something when they heard the TV inside the bank come on.

"That's right Brian. This is Jorja Fox with KTV-12. As most of our viewers already know, we are on the scene of a very intense hostage standoff."

"That's right baby. We got the whole town talking about us." Mark bragged.

All 3 men proceeded to take off their masks so they could eat. Sara took mental notes of the characteristics of each man and filed them away just in case they weren't caught. She looked up at the cameras and silently said_, you guys getting all this_.

"This is better than being on Cops!" Mark laughed.

Just then a picture flashed on the screen. _Wait a minute_, Sara thought, _What the hell are they doing with a picture of me!_ It was Sara's CSI ID picture. _God, they would have to show that one. Hair frizzy, no smile, no makeup. Just put that in a chapter of my book. Chapter 3, how to make yourself look available by looking desperate._

"Brian, we've found out that the woman hostage, seen here in this earlier footage, has been identified as Criminal Investigator Sara Sidle. Now, Ms. Sidle is currently a CSI Level 3 with the LVPD Crime Lab."

Everything else that the reporter said went in one of Sara's ears and out the other. Sara realized that the 3 men had stopped eating and were now looking at her.

_Oh this is just freaking great_

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Has a little bit more cussing, but thought it fit with the emotion of this chapter

Sara could swear she heard the theme music from "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" as the three men stood there and stared at her. She was, she thought, caught in what one could only term as the proverbial Mexican standoff. Only she wasn't Clint Eastwood and they weren't Mexican.

Mark broke the tension, "Are you a cop, are you a fucking cop!" he yelled.

"No," Sara said firmly.

Mark walked over to her and before she knew what was happening he hauled off and smacked her across her right cheek.

"You bitch! You're lying! They just said you were a cop!"

Sara shook off the stinging pain in her jaw. "No, they said I was a CSI. Crime Scene Investigator. That means I collect evidence. Nothing more, nothing less."

Mark reared back to hit here again. Moose caught his arm in mid-air and spun him around to face him.

"Don't touch her again." he said quietly.

Well I'll be damned, Sara thought. It speaks. And what do you know, he just saved my ass because I saw that one coming and guns or no guns there was no way in hell I was going to let him hit me again. He was getting ready to find out what a pissed off Sara Sidle looked like up close and personal.

Mark tore his arm out of Moose's grasp. "What the hell! You better back off man. They've been playing us the whole time," he said as he pointed outside.

Johnny came up and stood between the two men, "Calm down Mark. They had no way of knowing she was in here until we sent her out to get the food. This might not be as bad as it seems."

Mark just stared at him like he was crazy. "Not as bad as it seems?! What the hell you been smoking? There not gonna let us get anywhere with her."

"Or," Johnny said smugly looking at Sara, "They'll do everything they can to keep her safe. I think things just turned in our favor boys. Now let's finish eating and think of how we can use this to our advantage."

Great, Sara thought, a thinker. He had sense enough to know he could use her. Just then Moose leaned down to her.

"Are you okay?" Sara shook her head yes. "Here," he said handing her a napkin. She looked at him confused. He pointed to the side of her lip that had started to bleed.

"Thank you," she mouthed to him. He nodded and stood back up. She hadn't even noticed that her lip was bleeding.

Outside in the van you could hear a pin drop. Everyone inside stopped breathing the moment Sara's picture showed on the TV set. This is not good Brass thought. "Shit," he mumbled when he saw all three suspects turn and focus on Sara.

"Brass," Warrick said, "tell me this isn't happening."

Grissom on the other hand felt like he had turned to stone. He couldn't move. He was scared that if he did then the connection he had with Sara would somehow snap in two. If he just stood still, didn't breath, didn't blink, then he could somehow freeze time and the inevitable wouldn't happen. _I must have moved_, because now one of the suspects was yelling and moving towards Sara.

None were prepared for the sight they were about to witness as they saw the suspects arm swing back and slap Sara across the face. At that moment, it seemed like someone had turned the volume up and all three men visibly flinched at the sound of it.

This woke Brass up. He started yelling commands, "Get the SWAT leader in here and tell him to be prepared to move on my signal. Vega, make sure we have all available personnel ready to go and that rescue is no more than one block away just in case this goes south."

Warrick wasn't paying attention to Brass. His focus was solely on Grissom. He'd been watching him since he saw the suspect move towards Sara. At first, he was sure he was in shock, but that quickly changed after seeing her struck by that bastard. The look on his face was down right scary. He was sure that if Grissom could, he would kill that man with his bare hands and not think twice about it.

Grissom knew for sure in that moment that he was capable of murder. Never once in all his years of being a CSI had he ever imagined killing someone. He always thought murdering someone was beyond evil and that he couldn't possibly be forced to a point where he would ever hurt another human being. Until now. When he saw that man slap Sara, all rational thought left his mind and emotion took over. His fists were clenched by his side and he wanted to tear that man apart piece by tiny little piece. His Sara. Bleeding. Unacceptable. He turned to walk out of the van when Warrick stopped him.

"Hey, where you going?"

Grissom said through clenched teeth, "Get out of my way."

"Calm down, Griss. What are you going to do? Storm into the bank? Let Brass get it under control."

"Move," Grissom said with quiet rage.

"No." Warrick shook his head.

"Either you move or I'll move you."

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that. I know that right now you're not thinking straight but the best way to get Sara out alive is to use the wait and see approach. You've got to trust these people to do what's best for her and the other hostages and keep them safe."

"He.Hurt.Her." Grissom said violently.

"I know, I saw it. And don't think for one minute that I'm not entertaining the same thoughts you are, but this has to be done right." Warrick knew that he had to get him out of there. "Come on, let's go get some air."

"I'm not leaving her."

"Not asking you to, but I think some fresh air would do us both good."

Brass caught the tail end of this conversation, "Hey guys, we printed off some still photos of the three suspects from the bank cameras. Why don't you run these back to the lab and see if we get any hits off the database?" Brass was hoping Grissom would go to cool off. He was worried about his friend but right now he needed to focus on the task at hand.

"Warrick, take these and have Greg run them. Tell him this takes top priority and put aside anything else he has. Anyone has a problem you tell them to call me. Got it. Call us with any results." Both Brass and Warrick looked at each other. "I promise you I won't do anything stupid and that I'll stay out of your way."

Grissom said to Brass.

Warrick nodded and ran to the Tahoe to go back to the lab with the pictures. With any luck these guys would be in the system. Brass went back to strategizing with the SWAT leader and Grissom went back to watching what was going on in the bank.

Sara's lip had stopped throbbing. But that did nothing to help improve her mood. _Son of a bitch._ She hated when a suspect got the upper hand and these guys had just discovered their ace in the hole. Her_. Son of a bitch._ The phone started ringing, which in turn caused Sara to jump, making her put too much pressure on her lip, causing it to start throbbing again. _Son of a bitch._

Johnny smiled at the other two. "Let's get the show on the road. Why captain how nice of you to call. How are you?"

"I'm fine, I take it the food was to your liking?" Brass asked.

"It wasn't four star dining, but hey you take what you can get. And now captain to show you what a stand up guy I am and how appreciative I am of all of your hard work. I'm gonna release to you 4 hostages."

This stunned everyone and you could feel the nervous energy bouncing off the hostages. They were all hoping and praying that they would be one of the four to be released. All except one. Sara knew she wasn't going anywhere.

_Oh this is just freaking great_

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Sara was sitting cross legged on the floor as Mark picked out the 4 hostages to be released. She felt like she was back in middle school and they were picking who was going to be on the dodge ball teams. Never failed she was always one of the last two to be picked. Nobody ever wanted the "geek" on there team. She had the urge to raise her hand and yell Pick Me! Needless to say she fought it.

"Oh, what the hell," Johnny said," I'm feeling generous. Give them 5. You, "he pointed at the bank manager," Go with the other 4, and tell Captain Brass to call me in 30 minutes. I'll have a list of demands for him by then.

Moose led the 5 hostages to the door and let them out one by one. Hostages 7, Robbers 3. _Kind of an uneven ballgame, if you want to know the truth_ Sara thought_. I wonder if Grissom knows I'm here yet. Wonder if he cares. He'll probably only care if I'm late for shift_. She could hear him now, "Sara you're late. What did you do to get held hostage?! The lab needed you here not out playing cops and robbers." _Can't let down the lab. Can't get too emotionally involved. Can't take a risk. Can't. Can't. Can't._ She remembered a line from a movie Johnny Depp was in, "Are you a Mexi-CAN or a Mexi-CAN'T." She knew all too well which one Grissom was. But there was a little part of her that was 100 certain Grissom was somewhere outside. She couldn't explain it, it was just a feeling. She looked up at the camera.

Grissom was still watching the monitor when he saw Sara look up at the camera. It was as if she knew he was there watching over her and he could have sworn she was looking right at him. At that moment he would have given anything to hold her and tell her everything was going to be just fine and he wasn't going to let anything happen to her. "I'm right here Sara."

One of the officers that had led the hostages to safety came up to Brass and told him that the suspects wanted him to call them in 30 minutes for their list of demands. _Just wonderful_, Brass thought. Brass and the SWAT leader had arranged a course of action. They would have snipers on the surrounding rooftops and a team of six would be dropped on the roof of the bank and would make there way in through a series of air ducts. They had determined that the air ducts were big enough and strong enough to support the SWAT team. There were already news helicopters flying overhead so one more wasn't going to draw any suspicions. Once the teams were in position then they'd wait until they got the signal. Brass was a little apprehensive about moving so quickly but the Sheriff had called and told him to end this quickly, with as few civilian casualties as possible of course. _That's easy for him to say he's not here_. The Sheriff was conveniently out of town for a conference. _Lucky Bastard_.

CSI LAB

Warrick parked the Tahoe in front of the Lab and ran inside. The receptionist yelled at him that he couldn't park there. The look he gave her as he ran by shut her up. As he ran by the break room, he caught a glimpse of Catherine and Nick. They saw him too and immediately took off after him. Warrick found Greg in trace.

"Greg, I need you to run these photos through the database and see if we can come up with anything on these three."

"I'm on it." Greg said determinedly as he took the photos and scanned them into the system. "How's she doing man?"

Before Warrick could answer Catherine and Nick ran into the trace lab and immediately bombarded him with questions.

"How is she?" "What happened?" "How's Gil?" "How did she get involved in this?" "Is she hurt?" Do they know who she is?" "How are they gonna get her out?"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, one at a time." Warrick said. "First off, she's okay right now, although one of the suspects hit her when they found out who she was and what she did."

Catherine gasped as Nick looked horrified.

"Right now, " Warrick continued," we're of the assumption she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Brass is doing everything he can to get everyone out safely."

"How's Gil" Catherine asked.

Warrick shook his head, "Cath, it's the damnedest thing I've ever seen. When that guy slapped her, I thought I was going to have to physically restrain him from going into that bank. And as strong as I know I am Grissom would have swatted me away like a fly. That guy had better hope Griss doesn't get his hands on him."

"Really," Catherine smiled. "Hmm."

"I'm serious. I know we've all joked about the 2 of them but this situation has certainly opened his eyes. I've never seen him like this. It's almost scary to see him so open about what he feels for her. But guys, if something happens to her, I..." Warrick paused not wanting to think about what might happen," I don't know what it'll do to him."

"That's why we're gonna stay positive. Nothing and I mean nothing is going to happen to her." Nick said with conviction.

As this was said the computer started beeping.

"Got 'em!" Greg yelled triumphantly. "First guy is Jonathan Mitchell. 35. Did 10 years in San Quentin for drugs and breaking and entering. Second Guy is Mark Freeman, aka, "The Mark". What a Dumbass. 32. Did 12 years in San Quentin for 2nd degree sexual assault and the third guy..." _Well that's weird_ Greg thought, "I got nothing on him except this big red classified blinking on my screen. That can't be good. What do you guys make of that?" Warrick, Nick and Catherine had never seen that before. "Don't know." Warrick said puzzled.

Nick grabbed himself a copy of the report and was reading through it. "So Sara's being held hostage by a Breaking and Entering Drug Dealer, a Rapist, and someone who no one knows who he is or what he's capable of."

_Oh this is just freaking great_

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Brass had just gotten through having a nice chat with the news media. He told them, in no uncertain terms, that if any of them reported what was going on outside of the bank that not only would he have them arrested for interfering in an open investigation, but he would personally make it his mission to make sure they would never know about anything concerning the LVPD ever again. He pointedly looked at Ms. Fox, the reporter from KTV-12, as he said this. She nodded and looked down sheepishly.

Brass walked into the van and noticed Grissom still watching Sara. He handed him a headset.

"What's this for?" Grissom asked.

"Thought you'd want to be in the loop with the SWAT guys." Grissom nodded his thanks to Brass and put on the headset. "It's Showtime," Brass muttered, "Get those guys in the air."

That's all that SWAT needed to hear. The six men climbed into the helicopter, checking the person in front of them to make sure they had all their gear ready to go. The helicopter hovered over the bank as the six men rappelled down the rope to the roof, unlatching themselves and giving a thumbs up to the pilot. SWAT officer Sanchez took out his portable electric screwdriver and unscrewed the latch to the air duct on the right side of the roof. SWAT officer Johnson did the same on the left side. Sanchez went in first. This air duct, he knew from the plans, led into the womens restroom, while the one Johnson's team was in led to the manager's office. Once they exited the air ducts the teams would be on opposite ends of the bank, essentially putting the suspects and hostages in the middle. Sanchez waited a few seconds and then signaled over the radios to both teams. "Go."

Sara watched the 3 men closely. They were discussing what each of them wanted Brass to give them. _Morons_. They should be more concerned with how the hell they were going to get out of here. Sara was sure that SWAT would be moving in at any moment, if they hadn't already. Sara decided that she was tired of playing "the victim". _Let's see if I can help even the odds a little_. She raised her hand. "Excuse me," she said trying to put some fear in her voice. Three pairs of eyes fell on her. " I need to use the bathroom."

Johnny stared at her trying to gauge what she was up to, if anything. "Okay, but Mark here goes with you. You don't mind do you Mark?" he said smugly.

"No, I don't mind at all." he leered at her. He came over and grabbed Sara by here arm and pulled her up. "How about you and me take us a little walk. That sound nice to you?" He said, as he looked Sara up and down.

Sara tried to hide the hatefulness in her voice, "Okay." _If you only knew what I had in store for you, you asshole._

Grissom and Brass were listening to SWAT and watching the monitors when Grissom's cell phone rang.

"Grissom."

"Hey it's me. We got hits on 2 out of the 3." Warrick proceeded to fill Grissom in on what they had found out about the suspects. He also told Grissom about the weird hit they got on the 3rd guy.

"Warrick, I've seen that only one other time in my life and when it happened the Feds were involved somehow."

"Should we call them?" he asked.

"No,"Grissom said, "Not right now anyway, all they'll want to do is come out here and take over and leave us out of the loop. I'm not putting Sara's life in their hands."

"As soon as we finish here, we're all coming down there." Warrick didn't bother to ask for permission.

"See you then." He said as he closed his phone.

"So what did they find out?" Brass asked.

"The guy who seems to be in charge is Jonathan Mitchell, did 10 years for B&E and drugs. The guy who slapped Sara is Mark Freeman, did 12 years for 2nd degree sexual assault. " Grissom inwardly cringed as he relayed that one to Brass,"And the 3rd, the big guy called Moose, Is something of a mystery." Brass looked at him funny. "Seems alarm bells and whistles started going off when Greg ran his picture."

"Shit," Brass muttered, "Wonder what that's all about."

"Don't know, yet. They're bringing the information with them."

Brass didn't need to ask who they were. Suddenly, they heard Sara speak and ask to use the bathroom. "What the hell is she doing?" They said at the same time. Then Grissom froze. One of them was escorting Sara to the bathroom. "Damn it," he said out loud when he realized Mark was the one that would be taking her. She'd be all alone, with no protection, from a convicted rapist. Grissom watched Mark eye her up and down.

Oh this is just freaking great 

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

SWAT officer Sanchez had made it to the vent in the women's bathroom. Johnson and his team radioed that they were also in position. Sanchez proceeded to unscrew the first two screws in the vent. Then he heard the door to the restroom open. "Hold your positions, we've got movement.

Grissom saw Mark lead Sara towards the bathroom. He couldn't see her anymore on the monitor. The fear that he first felt when he saw here walking out of the bank returned. It was suffocating him.

"Jim," Grissom said tentatively.

"It'll be okay Gil. Sara can handle herself." Brass prayed he was right about that. Then they both heard over there headsets Sanchez tell the teams to hold their positions.

Sara opened the door to the bathroom and received a not so gentle push from Mark. _Wait. Wait_. She told herself. _Don't let your emotions take control_. She fought the urge to laugh as she remembered Grissom telling her that about cases. She focused on what she needed to do. She'd only get one chance to get this right and it had to be perfect. _Lucky me, one's all I need_. She walked over to the sink and turned on the warm water. She tried not to make eye contact with Mark in the mirror. He was standing a few feet behind her. As she bent over to rinse the blood out of her mouth she could feel him watching her ass. _That's right buddy keep on looking_. She wanted him off balance. She rinsed her mouth out again and felt him move closer_. Keep your breathing even Sidle, let him think he's got the upper hand. Wait. Wait. One more step, one more step_. When Mark was less than a foot away from her she did something her weaponless defense instructor would be proud of. She quickly pivoted on her right foot and landed a perfect karate chop to his throat and larynx, rendering him unable to talk. "That was for hitting me." She said quietly. Mark reached his hands up to cover his throat and that's when Sara firmly planted her fist in the middle of his face. She heard the crunch of bones breaking. "And that's for calling me a bitch," she said as he fell unconscious to the bathroom floor." She bent down and whispered in his ear, "How did you like it? Was it good for you?" She nearly screamed when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped up ready to attack and had to step back when she heard SWAT officer Sanchez tell her "We're the good guys." She'd never been so glad to see someone in her life that she almost hugged him.

"Nice job." Sanchez smiled.

"Well he had it coming." Sara responded still a little shaken.

"No doubt, you must be CSI Sidle. SWAT officer Sanchez at your service. Now tell me what's going on in there."

"There are 2 more suspects and 6 hostages still in there. The suspects have been congregating in the middle of the bank where the counter is. The hostages are seated to the right side of that sitting on the floor." Sara tried to remember everything she could.

"Good, we've got another team on the other side in the manager's office. That's exactly what we were hoping for. Right now, I want you to stay in here while we go out and see what we can do to stop this."

"That's not going to work." Sara replied. "Johnny is going to start getting suspicious if I'm not out of here soon. I'm sure he was expecting Mark to make a move and is giving "his boy" a little time with me, but that's only going to work for so long. If I don't get back out there, he's gonna start shooting hostages. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not willing to take that chance."

Sanchez mulled over what she was saying. "Hold that thought. Captain Brass," he said into his headset.

"Go ahead."

"It seems that there are now only two suspects for us to worry about."

"What happened?" Brass asked puzzled.

Sanchez grinned, "Let me just give you CSI guys a little piece of advice, don't call Sidle a bitch. She tends to take it the wrong way."

"Is she okay?"

Sanchez heard a new voice come over the line. "And who might this be?"

"This is CSI Supervisor Gil Grissom, is she okay?" he asked again loudly.

"She's just fine Grissom, better than fine, but we seem to have a difference of opinion." Sara's head shot up at the sound of Grissoms name.

"And what would that be?" Brass interrupted.

"Sidle seems to think that she needs to go back out there to keep the suspect from shooting more hostages. I'm not sure if that's the smart thing to do. What do you suggest?"

"She is not to move under any circumstance! I don't care if you have to handcuff her to the damn sink." Grissom yelled. Brass just shook his head at Grissom and tried to suppress his grin.

Brass knew Grissom wasn't going to like his answer but he said it anyway," Sanchez, I think she might be right in this situation."

Grissom looked at him like he'd grown two heads, "What?!"

"Gil, you don't have to like this but we have to look at the big picture. We have to get everyone out safe. I don't like it anymore than you do but that's what has to be done and Sara knows this."

Brass was right, Grissom didn't have to like it. "Sanchez, this is Gil again, is Sara where I can talk to her for a minute?"

"She's right here, hold on," he said as he handed Sara his headset.

Sara looked confused, "What?"

"Someone wants to talk to you."

"Hello"

"Sara," she loved the way he said her name. "I...just...just be careful. I can't have anything happen to the labs best CSI." he said trying to sound indifferent to the fear that was coursing through his veins.

"Sure thing Griss, wouldn't want the lab to lose their BEST CSI, now would we." she said bitingly as she handed the headset back to Sanchez.

Grissom couldn't believe he'd just said that to her. _You idiot! No time to beat yourself up about it now. Plenty of time to grovel once she got out of there. Yeah, lots and lots of begging._

Brass chuckled at Grissom. The man was probably the worst person in the world when it came to expressing something verbally. But once Sara saw all the emotion on his face, he wouldn't need words. That would tell her everything she would need to know.

Sanchez put his headset back on and spoke to Brass. "Okay, so we let her go back in, let her signal to the hostages to get down and then we'll storm in. Everybody on the same page?" Sara shook her head, "Good. now let's..."

SWAT officer Sanchez never got to finish his thought because at that moment the bathroom door opened and he was staring into a pair of shocked green eyes.

_Oh this is just freaking great_

TBC


	10. Chapter 10Complete

Everybody the end is upon us. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know what you guys think.

Chapter 10

Brass was too busy talking to Sanchez and Grissom was too busy worrying about Sara that neither man noticed Moose make his way to the bathroom. Sanchez, Sara and the other SWAT officers noticed him when he opened the bathroom door. The SWAT officers all had there weapons pointed at Moose's head. He quickly walked into the bathroom and shut and locked the door behind him. It shocked all of them what he did next.

Moose gently laid his weapon on the floor and put his hands in the air." My name is Brett Morris. I am a federal agent with the DEA."

Shocked didn't begin to do it justice. Everyone in the bathroom was downright stunned. Sara stood there with her mouth open. Sanchez was the first to move. "Sir, please turn around, put your hands on top of your head and slowly back towards us. If what you say is the truth then it should be easy to verify. What are you doing in here?"

Brett looked down at Mark and smiled as he walked past Sara. "I was actually coming in here to rescue you from him. Looks like I should have been protecting him from you."

Sara had to smile at that. "How did you get involved in this Agent Morris?"

"I've been undercover now for 9 months trying to bust this meth lab. Johnny out there is the brains behind the operation. Earned his trust, got in the inner circle and here we are. I got a call last night to meet them at Johnny's house this morning. He didn't tell me what was going to happen and by the time I realized what was going on it was too late to let my boss know. We thought it was going to be a simple in and out robbery."

Sara nodded understandably. She knew that in undercover operations that in order to maintain ones cover that you sometimes had to go with the flow. Brett kept talking as one of the SWAT officers handcuffed him and had him sit against the wall.

"I was so close to putting Johnny away for a long, long time on the drug charges alone but I think he bought himself a needle in the arm by shooting that teller. Although finding out you were in law enforcement was an even bigger shock."

"Just in case I don't see you once this thing is over, I want to thank you for keeping Mark from hurting me." Sara said sincerely.

"I'm just sorry I didn't stop him from hitting you in the first place. I have a problem with a man that likes to beat on women."

Sara smiled, "Me too. Especially when I'm the woman."

Brett smiled back at her, "I can see that. Remind me to never get on your bad side."

Sanchez interrupted Sara to hand her a bullet proof vest.

"What's this for?" she asked.

"For you," he replied. "If you're going back in there I want you to have some protection."

"Yeah right, if he didn't know you were in here before he would definitely know it once I walked in the room. It's not exactly subtle, what with the words SWAT in big white letters on the back of it. Sorry Sanchez, but I'm gonna have to take my chances out there."

Sanchez nodded," Okay, you go on out there and we'll move on Brass' signal. Good luck Sidle and keep your head down."

Sanchez radioed back to the van, "Sidle's moving out now, we'll move on your command."

Outside in the van Grissom was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. Sara had been safe and it was the biggest relief he'd ever felt and then within seconds that relief had turned back into fear when he found out she was going to put herself back out there. Grissom wasn't a religious man but he figured now was as good a time as any. Grissom started praying.

Brass heard Sanchez and responded, "Roger that, we go on my signal."

Sara took a deep breath and opened the door to the bathroom. She slowly started walking back to the lobby. Johnny heard her and turned around.

"Where the hell are Mark and Moose?"

Sara tried to look frightened," Moose is having a little talk with Mark, something about how to treat a lady."

Johnny laughed, "Poor Mark, I'd hate to be in his shoes right now. I tried to tell him to wait until we were out of here before he started his fun."

Sara walked past Johnny and was getting ready to sit down. She stood in front of the hostages and whispered "Get down." The hostages nodded that they understood.

At that exact same moment Brass gave the order to move.

Johnny noticed something move to his right and he swung around in time to see the flash/bang grenades. Temporarily blinded he spun around to block the light in his eyes. The hostages all hit the deck. Sara who had been standing fell to her knees. The smoke grenades were then thrown into the center of the bank. Sara started to crawl but didn't know in which direction. The grenades were wrecking havoc with her sense of direction. Then she felt it. Johnny tripped over her, he struggled to get upright and grabbed hold of the first thing he could get his hands on. Sara. He grabbed her by her hair and jerked her up with him. Sara screamed out in pain. Johnny pulled her close to him as he began to get his bearings. He thrust his weapon under her chin and started moving towards the door with Sara as his shield.

Grissom and Brass saw the flash/bang grenades go off and saw Sara fall to her knees. Then the smoke grenades went off and they could not see anything else that was going on inside the bank. Brass could barely make out a figure moving towards the door of the bank. He heard Grissom say "God Damn It!" That's when he saw that it was two people moving towards the door. Johnny and Sara.

SWAT officer Ryan Gammon was in position on the roof across from the bank. He heard the command to move and watched the front door of the bank through his scope. He saw movement coming towards the front doors. He assessed the situation. It was one of the suspects and he had a hostage trying to shield himself from the officers inside. The suspect got closer to the door and Gammon knew it was now or never. He lined up the suspect in his sights, took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. The suspect never saw it coming.

Sara heard it before she felt it. She heard the glass break from the front door and then she felt her captor loosen his hold on her and fall to her left. It was over. That quickly it was over. Before she knew it the bank lobby was covered in SWAT officers. She could hear various "Clears" coming all around her. Then, she was being led to a chair so an EMT could check her out, make sure she wasn't hurt or in shock.

Brass saw the glass break and the suspect go down after moving with Sara to the door. "Gil, you stay here until we know it's clear." Grissom was about to argue, "I mean it Gil! She's okay now. But this is going to be done right. You stay here until I say it's okay, you got that!" Grissom nodded he understood. He went back to watch the monitor to see for himself that Sara was okay. He saw a paramedic sit her down to look her over. He realized he wouldn't be able to calm down until he saw with his own eyes she was unhurt. Taking a deep breath he had to keep reminding himself just a few more minutes.

Brass walked into the bank. He was relieved that everything turned out okay. He was getting ready to find Sara when the Sheriff walked in. _Now he decides to show up_. "Captain Brass, fill me in on what happened."

_How bout you bite me _Brass thought. He opted for, "Sure thing Sheriff." And proceeded to fill him in on what had transpired.

Grissom got tired of waiting for Brass after 5 minutes and decided to check on Sara himself. He walked into the bank and there she was. She was sitting in a chair that one of the SWAT officers had pulled up for her. She had her head down and was staring at her knees. She looked exhausted and it broke Grissoms heart that she had to go through this but if this had never happened he would never have had the courage to do what he was about to do.

Sara felt him before she saw him. The hair on the back of her neck was standing up. She didn't want to deal with him right now. She felt like if one more thing happened to her that she would breakdown and she didn't want to do that here. She would do that when she got home to her apartment_. My lonely apartment_. She looked at her watch. _Oh hell, shift's started, I'm gonna be late. Better get this over with_. "Grissom, I'm sorry to do this to you again, but I'm gonna need to go home and take a shower during shift."

Grissom didn't say anything. He just stood there and watched her. The paramedic looked up at Grissom and saw the look on his face. She smiled and patted Sara's knee. "I think you're going to be just fine." she said as she stood up and walked away.

Sara took a deep breath and looked up at Grissom. What she saw made her speechless. There were absolutely no words for the emotion she saw in his eyes. Fear, Relief, Worry and Love. She knew she wasn't imagining that. Sara sat frozen in the chair, unable to break away from his eyes.

Grissom moved towards her and pulled her out of the chair and up against him. He then leaned down and gently pressed his lips to hers. At first she didn't respond and then let her arms go around his neck and she melted into the kiss. She pulled away to look in his eyes again to make sure this was real and what he wanted. There was no doubt whatsoever.

Warrick, Nick & Catherine walked in at that moment.

Warrick just shook his head and smiled.

Catherine mumbled, "Go Gil".

While Nick said loudly, "Bout damn time."

Sara and Grissom leaned in for another kiss. This one more passionate and less tentative than the first. As everyone around them seemed to disappear, they both had the same thought......

(Okay readers, I want everybody to say it with me now)

_Oh this is just freaking great_

The End


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